OK. I'll concede.I downloaded the video and did some closer looking at what you pointed out; and I had the chance to look at the still frames, the one by ones, like in a photo album.Also as a fast moving clip, as the TV audience sees it, where it's all tied together. Then I asked myself, "But what is it that doesn't sit right with me?" I believe that the whole sequence is done too fast. Too much car. The movement is too fast, the car with Fred in it shoots by fast, through traffic, there are fast repeats and fast music. Yes, the pace is consistent but it simply looks too much like a modern LA freeway to me and not Bedrock. Bedrock begins when Fred stops to buy a news-slab, climbs the dino's "stairs" to pick up something from the tailor's and arriving home...the house, the garage, the interiors, etc. This is Bedrock.

I believe it was this, John, that I might've reacted to and not the treatment of the bgs. I agree with you (in retrospect) that the layouts and painting techniques were OK. Ed's work is unquestionably OK. And I'm trying to figure out what it really was that comes across negative to me. The thread of the story?It's me. I like to think of the Flintstone territory as warm and more natural, not crowded, not so much a busy, dense neighborhood. Remember: there's a sign in there that says Bedrock -Population 2500- Not 25,000. Too many houses, overly populated, too much stone, not enough trees and plants. Yes, I guess that this is my objection...the freeway look. The older opener you mentioned was the drive-in movie. I don't recall details, but I do remember that it was 'friendlier', realer. It took the audience back into space and time where Bedrock was more believably prehistoric... such a pleasure. Maybe my biggest objection with ANYplace is traffic and speed, freeways and highways. Can't stand the stuff.

The sky color, btw, does look greenish. It was a sort of tinged ochre and it was the Flintstones sky in practically every show, one that we established as a basic so that we could simplify and 'standardize'. It was made up by our color supplier and delivered in quantities all mixed.

14 comments:

even when I was a kid I noticed those old flinstones Bk rounds , so I knew I liked the Flinstones before Pebbles was born,..Cause to me the backrounds were better. But even more than those backrounds I liked Yogi Bear Bkrounds , and Huckleberry Hound.. I know it doesn't really matter , just sharing my thoughts.

I really should pick up the early flintstones episodes and watch them again. I have a better perspective now that I've read all these posts from Art on the flintstones that now I want to see them in action again.

Art Lozzi--what a genius. I love being able to peek over your shoulder, as it were, and read his thoughts on this stuff--his work. I wouldn't have been in any doubt that he and the other guys on "Flintstones" took their jobs seriously and gave it their all...it's also particularly neat that he harbors no false sentimentality over it, but still clearly has a keenly appraising eye(and mind). His remarks about what bother him in the sequence are on the money(good as it is--and I agree, it's great).Thanks, Art! from a total stranger, fan and artist.

I guess the saying "Two great minds think alike," doesn't apply to this. When two great geniuses like Art and John disagree it shows they can both see differences in the genius of the piece but not necessarily on the same page. In other words there is something that each sees wrong and right in the piece but in a different way and can appreciate it for what it is.

Maybe the saying should go something like this, "Two great minds, could look at one thing and pull it apart and learn from each other more." That's the key to knowledge! :)

I keep saying how overwhelmed I am at the contents, at the comments, the exchanges, the interest that people are showing and expressing. And I keep saying it. Yes, I've been away too long. I had NO idea that things -the Industry- have grown at such a pace, to such an extent. Here, in Greece, I haven't seen a Flintstone except for very few times...years ago. How can I get hold of copies, CD's, videos? I want to see what everyone's talking about.

These sure look familiar. I guess that's because I used a lot of them in my "Flintstones Forgery" clip that can be found on YouTube.

Early on in my Flash studies, I wanted to see how close I could get to classic Flintstones look in Flash, and used a lot of elements from the Laser Disc set. I got all the voice clips from the "Monster From The Tar Pits" episode (wishing more episodes had the voice only alternate audio track) and used most of these backgrounds in it. The idea was to jumble the few generic enough lines of dialog I had into a new narrative even if it didn't make much sense. I couldn't resist tweaking it slightly, but I tried to remain fairly faithful to the look of the first season.

Seeing them in this post caused me to do a double take, thinking my clip was being discussed for a second.